HR Review just published a special edition on Employee Engagement which featured an article written by Consensio titled “Conflict Management: Another Answer to Employee Engagement?”
Employee engagement has been a hot topic in HR circles for a long time, but rarely is the connection made between a healthy conflict organisation and how this contributes to higher levels of employee engagement. Because employee engagement is something every organisation desires but few know how to achieve, it is critical to understand this link.
In a healthy conflict organisation, conflict is viewed as normal, and not something that needs to be “hidden” or done away with. Instead, these organisations view conflict as a phenomenon present in all relationships which, when addressed quickly, informally and collaboratively, has the potential to strengthen working relationships and lead to greater creativity. The article discusses how an effective way to raise employee engagement is to improve an organisation’s ability to manage conflict in a more healthy way, for example, through workplace mediation and conflict resolution training.
Our experience as workplace mediators offers us a first-hand insight into the various problems associated with the use of traditional conflict management processes, including its focus on finding a “victim” and a “perpetrator”, as well as the stress and demotivation caused by unresolved or aggressively managed workplace conflict. The article outlines how good conflict management improves employee engagement. To read the article, please click here.
